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A review by anigoose
It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.0
I finished this book out of sheer fascination and horror. This is a book about lovebombing, manipulation and taking advantage of a person in a very vulnerable state. Brendan is possessive and grooms Piper masterfully. He does not help her find her worth, he tells her what her worth is and demands she comply. He even has grand gestures for her sister, to get her to comply when she is clearly very skeptical.
When Piper keeps things to herself, he sees it as extreme betrayal and forces her promise that she will never keep anything from him. They have been together 4ish weeks at this point. When she is not complying with his wishes, he yells at her and exploits the two biggest vulnerabilities that she has shown him - her fear of losing him in the ocean like she lost her father, and her fear of being abandoned again.
Brendan makes it clear to Piper that he never loved his first wife, that she was just a means to an end. His mourning for her was a show. This is supposed to show his love for Piper as more real, but all it shows is his lack of empathy and ability to love. Ffs do we even find out if Desiree lived with him in his house? There's no traces of her, no stories of her, no fond memories, only obligation. I have fond memories with all of my exes, even the abusive ones, even the boring ones. It's downright creepy.
Enemies to lovers doesn't work if the reason he felt such animosity towards her was that immediately upon seeing her, she looked like a woman he couldn't control.
This book is an insult to love, an insult to Annie Murphy who played Alexis Rose, to Dan Levy who created Alexis Rose, and to survivors of Narcissist Abusers. There's so much more that is horribly wrong with this book, from the assumption that a fisherman smelling of the ocean smells like anything but rotten fish - believe me, I grew up in a fishing town in the Oregon Coast, it's just rotten fish, babes - to the complete absurdity of the idea that a man who has been celibate for 7 years and who had zero interest in his wife before that is super fucking talented at sex, to...god, I just can't hit on all the things that are warped and awful in this book.
When Piper keeps things to herself, he sees it as extreme betrayal and forces her promise that she will never keep anything from him. They have been together 4ish weeks at this point. When she is not complying with his wishes, he yells at her and exploits the two biggest vulnerabilities that she has shown him - her fear of losing him in the ocean like she lost her father, and her fear of being abandoned again.
Brendan makes it clear to Piper that he never loved his first wife, that she was just a means to an end. His mourning for her was a show. This is supposed to show his love for Piper as more real, but all it shows is his lack of empathy and ability to love. Ffs do we even find out if Desiree lived with him in his house? There's no traces of her, no stories of her, no fond memories, only obligation. I have fond memories with all of my exes, even the abusive ones, even the boring ones. It's downright creepy.
Enemies to lovers doesn't work if the reason he felt such animosity towards her was that immediately upon seeing her, she looked like a woman he couldn't control.
This book is an insult to love, an insult to Annie Murphy who played Alexis Rose, to Dan Levy who created Alexis Rose, and to survivors of Narcissist Abusers. There's so much more that is horribly wrong with this book, from the assumption that a fisherman smelling of the ocean smells like anything but rotten fish - believe me, I grew up in a fishing town in the Oregon Coast, it's just rotten fish, babes - to the complete absurdity of the idea that a man who has been celibate for 7 years and who had zero interest in his wife before that is super fucking talented at sex, to...god, I just can't hit on all the things that are warped and awful in this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Misogyny
Moderate: Death of parent
Lovebombing, narcissist, manipulation.